I love reading. I've loved it for as long as I can remember. Maybe it comes from growing up in a house without a TV. I don't know. But I tend to get addicted to reading.
One of the things I love about being in the "real" world [read: not in school] is that I can read whatever I want. I visit the library about once a week. Heck, I even have my library card number memorized!
I always enjoy book lists and saw a Top 100 list on a friend's blog. Apparently this list is from the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read program. I've only read 16. Out of 100. Yikes.
However, none of my favorite books are on the list. So I'm thinking I need to create my own Top 100 list. I need your help. I've started a list below. These books are my favorite ... they aren't necessarily classics or best sellers. Just Becky's picks. Here's 10 to kick the list off.
1. Marley and Me - John Grogan
2. Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer
3. The Testament - John Grisham (what is it with Johns?)
4. A Walk to Remember - Nicholas Sparks
5. The Mark of the Lion Series - Francine Rivers
6. Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
7. What's So Amazing About Grace - Phillip Yancey
8. The Kindness of Strangers - Katrina Kittle
9. My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
10. Peace Like a River - Leif Enger
(the following were inspired by your comments)
11. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
12. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruden
13. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
15. Redeeming Love - Francine Rivers
16. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
What is, hands down, the BEST book you've ever read? And why?
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13 comments:
Hey, I grew up in a house without TV too! Hooray for intelligence.
I was surprised to see The Life of Pi on there. What did you think of the book?
I adore reading too. I did that list and I forget how many of them I have read. I am too lazy to look now, too. But I wanted to say that I grew up in a house with satellite tv before satellite tv became big, and I do love movies, but my books will always be my first love ;)
Apparently the original version of my post was a bit confusing. That book list that I posted was the list from the NEA. However, I now realize how I wrote the post made it seem like those were MY top 100. Since I haven't read most of those books many that I have read I didn't like (Life of Pi, for instance) I changed it up a bit.
So, Nate, in answer to your question, I enjoyed the first two thirds of The Life of Pi, but the end was just too weird. All the freaky weirdness kind of ruined the whole book for me. Did you read it? What did you think?
And to Nate and Lawanda ... what's your favorite book?
I posted a comment but I think Google deleted it. In the original comment I said this was too hard, like choosing which eye I love the most. But if I had to narrow it down, I'd say Garcia Marquez' "One Hundred Years of Solitude," "The Great Gatsby" and Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" all marked reading milestones for me. Oh, as did Carmen Laforet's "Nada" (first book I read in Spanish) and Faulkner's "The Bear."
Ooooh now we're talking! Thanks, Fay. Definitely checking those out.
I, Becky Tschamler, hereby solemnly vow to [at least consider] reading every book recommended to me in this comment section.
Google is weird. It likes to eat comments.
My favorites:
1. Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
2. A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle (and all his other travel writing)
3. Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien (love the other ones too, but thought this was the best one).
I could probably go on...there are so many great authors...Madeleine L'Engle, C.S. Lewis...but those are probably my top 3.
I would have to go with the Harry Potter series on my list for sure. Also, Knowledge of the Holy my AW Tozer is the best Christian book I have ever read. Others: Memoirs of a Geisha, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Kite Runner.
Too hard to name just one but here are some of my favorites:
Angle of Repose & Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
Abandoned to God: Life story of Oswald Chambers - David McCasland
Mountains Beyond Mountains - Paul Farmer
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers - it gave me a clear vision of how God really loves me.
I just finished The Shack. It almost leaves me speechless. I will never view God the same way again.
I love Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton, the Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
I think The Life of Pi was mediocre. While I don't get irritated when someone attempts to convince me of an agenda (pluralism and/or the silliness of religion, as in the Life of Pi) it irritates me when it is overtly and cheesily done...if that makes any sense!
Hmmm.. I have so many favorite books, I don't know.....
If you've never read the Anne of Green Gables books, or anything else by LM Montgomery, please do! :)
And Little Women.
And The Harry Potters.
And anything by Jane Austen will make you smile :)
I also like Charles Dickens, but only the lighter books (read: NOT A Tale of Two Cities)
Most of my faves are old books and children's books. I just finished a great book recently called The Mysterious Benedict Society. It was a great kids book.
I don't know, if you don't read some of those old books, you are really missing out, in my opinion. :)
The problem of pain - C.S.Lewis
close second
Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything - Ervin Laszlo
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